Corpus Masoreticum Working Papers

FRONT MATTER

Ekaterina Gotsiridze — Fri, 23 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Beyond the Text: Liturgical Clues in Burgundian Masoretic Manuscripts

Ilona Steimann — Fri, 23 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Corpus Masoreticum Working Papers 9

In this essay I discuss four groups of Masoretic manuscripts produced in Burgundy around 1300. I explore the distinctive manuscript culture that flourished in this region, with a particular focus on its liturgical dimension. The unusual liturgical features observed in these manuscripts offer invaluable insights into the historical dynamism and fluidity of Jewish religious practice. By analysing these features, we can better understand the complex interplay among older customs, textual transmission, and the lived religious experience of Jewish communities in medieval Europe.

The Arundel and Xanten Bibles: A Model and a Copy?

Ilona Steimann — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Corpus Masoreticum Working Papers 10

Based on a newly established attribution of two Bibles to a single scribe-masorete, Joseph of Xanten ben Kalonymos of Neuss, this paper discusses their model-copy relationship. It analyzes the copying process and identifies additional hands involved, which contributed to the complex dynamics between models and copied texts. The discussion also reveals how Ashkenazi scribes perceived their own Masoretic tradition compared to the “original” tradition that governed ancient Near Eastern Masoretic codices.

The Making of the Ambrosian Bible and the Emergence of the German-Ashkenazi Variant of the Masoretic Biblical Codex

Sarit Shalev-Eyni — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Corpus Masoreticum Working Papers 11

The foundations of the German-Ashkenazi variant of the Masoretic Bible, which flourished around 1300, were first established in the 1230s within the scholarly and social hub of Würzburg and the surrounding areas. By analyzing the production of the Ambrosian Bible—one of the most significant works from this period—we can define its three volumes as an experimental collaboration involving two masoretes from different cultural backgrounds. One of these was Joseph ben Kalaonymos, a skilled and highly sought-after local masorete and vocalizer. The other, whom we have designated as “Masorete B,” has a style of work that bears a striking resemblance to that of Ḥayyim ben Isaac, the French scribe and masorete responsible for the 1215 La Rochelle Bible. By reconstructing the production stages and the circumstances surrounding the Ambrosian Bible, we aim to shed light on this experimental phase. We also propose that this collaborative effort may have contributed to the consolidation of the German-Ashkenazi variant of the Masoretic Bible that came to prominence a few decades later.

From La Rochelle to Würzburg and Beyond: Four Bibles from the Hand of the Migrating Scribe-Masorete Ḥayyim ben Isaac

Ilona Steimann — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Corpus Masoreticum Working Papers 12

Building on the established corpus of the French scribe-masorete Ḥayyim ben Isaac—the two La Rochelle Bibles of 1215 and 1216(?)—this article identifies a third, previously unattributed Bible now split between Cincinnati and Saint Petersburg, as his work. Further, Sarit Shalev Eyni’s re-examination of the 1238 Ambrosian Bible, produced in Würzburg, revealed a crucial link to Ḥayyim ben Isaac’s codices. The Cincinnati-Petersburg Bible confirms his hand in the Masorah of the Ambrosian Bible’s second and third volumes, suggesting that he had migrated to Würzburg by that time. By comparing these Bibles, this article traces Ḥayyim ben Isaac’s career from La Rochelle (Poitou) to Würzburg (Franconia) and considers the effects of migration on both his own scribal output and the prevailing local practices. Finally, it discusses the subsequent histories of the La Rochelle Bibles, which offer further insights into Jewish migration patterns from Poitou.